Friday Post November 12, 2016

It’s Friday, let’s sweep | navigating change

Six,

What a week. Let’s start here. Thank you to anyone and everyone who has ever served our country in uniform. Thank you. Honoring all who have served – Happy Veterans Day.

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Computation of Time + Veterans Day | A reminder, when computing time for your purchase and sale agreements, please regard today –  Friday, November 11th as a legal holiday. Veterans Day is a legal holiday under Washington law. ***also, a banking holiday.  Commissions processed via ACH will be delayed a day – a note from Accounting.

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The “science” – thru October 31 2016 | Of particular interest this week is to again shout out our newly formatted statistical reports. Alongside these newly formatted reports, the normal reports remain as we look to improve on all. You’ll notice significant graphical enhancements along with improvements in actual data + talking points. Our In-City offices alongside our Eastside counterparts are working in partnership to improve all going into 2017…and you can help (if market “science” is your thing)! I want your feedback. How? ***Please consider sending me (via email) PDF of reports marked up with suggested changes…Click here to take a test drive, digest this info and hopefully use with your people. (metro Seattle)

Click here for NWMLS specific area reports. NOTE: Individual NWMLS areas reports will be available in 2017 with the new formats.

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WORC WORC WORC | Last week in your inbox you received a memo regarding significant updates we have made to our WORC Tools.  As most of you are aware, the OLD WORC site is being decommissioned and we are replacing several of the remaining tools – this is a good thing.

This week we released both new + improved WORC Tools focused on the following:

  • UPDATED ROSTER – Includes a variety of features enabling staff to perform almost every administrative function while allowing Agent/Brokers to control more of their Windermere profile.
  • MODERNIZED PHOTO GALLERY – Photo Gallery permits enhancements to listings beyond MLS restrictions helping to differentiate listings on Windermere/Agent and partner sites such as Zillow.
  • HOTSHEET (OFFICE TOUR TOOL) – New to market properties can be easily added, searched, and outputted for use during an office tour.
  • NEW WINDERMERE IMAGE VIEWER – Expanded and improved way to showcase images on Winderemere.com and Agent Websites.

***Your branch support is aware of all of these changes. They are ready for to answer your questions, help &/or find additional resources (answers) while we navigate change.***

Tune Up Team Re-Brand_LogoV3tuneup@windermere.com

Packing your parachutes | Last week I gave one example of us planning for packing your parachutes in 2017. The example I gave was in leveraging our Tune Up team in training (&/or “tuning up”) your assistants. Good news, I circled up with Karen this week and went through a list of brokers in our Company that I was aware of that currently have assistants. Turns out, Karen knows all of them and has already been working with your assistants when they’ve had a need &/or in on-boarding. That made me very happy. That said, if you do have an assistant and we have not identified such – again, feel free to lean on us to keep them up to date on our tools & resources. And if you are looking to hire an assistant in 2017, know that we’ll work to make that on-boarding as smooth as possible.

…Again, why do we care to focus on this? Because we understand where your “productive” time lies – it is with a client + contract or it is the time you spend in creating more opportunities to be in front of a client + a contract. Period. Your productive time is not in training an assistant. We know our Windermere tools well, we know how to get the most our of our Windermere tools and we have resources to help us help you. So there you go, leverage the Tune Up Team – whether you need help or would like your assistant to get “tuned up” – just ask. Fantastic time of year to do so. Email: tuneup@windermere.com

Navigating change | And yes, hard to “sweep” this week without referencing on some level our election. “The American people have spoken and they have elected Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States. Change was clearly demanded, and change is what we will have.” – Matthew Gardner. We will continue to leverage having a chief economist on staff at Windermere to guide us through changing times. In the immediate, Matthew’s blog post The Trump effect. How will it impact the US economy and housing (click for full post)?” serves as the first page of a new chapter…

Committed and in partnership with you,

Laura Smith, General Manager | Windermere Real Estate Co + Northwest, Inc.

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